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A Morbid Taste for Bones

Monday, October 10, 2016

A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) Ellis Peters

a-morbid-taste-for-bonesSet in England and Wales in ~1137.

I picked this up on sale–and by accident. I’d confused Ellis Peters with Peter Tremayne (whose real name was Peter Berresford Ellis, so it’s not that ridiculous of a mistake) and so picked up a bunch of these books when they went on sale.

It was a very good mistake to have made.

Brother Cadfael is a Welsh Benedictine monk and herbalist living in Shrewsbury, on the Welsh border. He came late to his calling, having spent his early years as a Crusader, and enjoys his life or order and peace, but because of his colorful past, knows much more of the world than most of his brothers.

Which is one of the things I particularly liked about Brother Cadfael–he knew about the world, and was patient with those living in it. He seems like he would have been a marvelous person to know, even if he wasn’t willing to talk about his past as a crusader.

One thing to note–this book was written in 1977, so there are anachronisms, but they didn’t especially bother me, because they weren’t glaring errors, and it wasn’t as easy in the 70s to check the etymology of a word as it is now. And they really are only minor things.

Meanwhile, there was very much to love.

The abbey, like to many of the time, was searching for the bones of saints to bring to the Shrewsbury Abbey of St Peter and St Paul.

He had been scouring the borderlands for a spare saint now for a year or more, looking hopefully towards Wales, where it was well known that holy men and women had been common as mushrooms in autumn in the past, and as little regarded.

When a possible candidate is discovered, Brother Cadfael wrangles himself along as a translator (and also brings along his assistant, about whose calling he has doubts).

Not that he’s able to keep those in his company from making mistakes.

“Money!” said Rhisiart in the most extraordinary of tones, at once curious, derisory and revolted. He knew about money, of course, and even understood its use, but as an aberration in human relations.

But what I like best is Brother Cadfael himself. Despite his past (or perhaps because of it) he has a true calling, but doesn’t take himself (or most around him) seriously.

Meet every man as you find him, for we’re all made the same under habit or robe or rags.

(L)eave agonising too much over your sins, black as they are, there isn’t a confessor in the land who hasn’t heard worse and never turned a hair. It’s a kind of arrogance to be so certain you’re past redemption.”

“It’s a kind of arrogance to be so certain you’re past redemption.” That is a very interesting statement–one I hadn’t heard before.

As you can probably guess from that, Brother Cadfael is a great proponent of redemption, and it’s one of my favorite themes, so along with a fascinating and well-done mystery, this was a very enjoyable story.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by MysteriousPress

 

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